Mapping Hyrule
by Ed Black
Summary: Where do all of Link's dungeon maps come from anyway? That question has bugged me for a while so I came up with an answer in this story. It is set in the version of Hyrule from ocarina of time before the game starts.


The legend of Zelda is not owned by me. Thanks to Mr. Crash for bataing this  
  
Mapping Hyrule  
  
By Ed Black  
  
The full moon rose slowly over the forest, shining in a silver white color. It glowed like a dying fire. The cries of the Wolfos were joined by the dull thud of a walking stick hitting the dirt path. It was long after midnight as a man with a cane and a lantern stepped out from the shadows and hurried along the path, not looking back. Stalchildren dug their way out of the ground, but they would not so much as let his lamplight touch them. The man was wrinkled and brown from his long days in the sun. His days of running were long over, but he could still get around using his worn walking stick. He dressed like most of the town folk, and the only thing that really stuck out was the Kokiri hat he used to cover his thin, wispy, white hair. He was very old, but his eyes were still sharp, and when the sun rose, he would see Kakariko's lights appear over the horizon a good while before many a younger man would be able to. The old man smiled, knowing the shopkeeper would be up soon and waiting for him. The shopkeeper was one of the few people that knew his face, and among the even fewer number of people who knew his name. He was Serio, the best mapmaker Hyrule could offer.  
  
The Kokiri had needed his services that night. Serio dreaded the late night summons - by the Goddesses, nothing good ever seemed to come out of them! - but when the Great Deku tree sends it's own personal fairy to fetch you, you can't simply dismiss the summons. Normally, Serio loved to be with the children of the forest, but tonight...something seemed to be hanging over them. The Kokiri had known him as long as they had known the land on which they lived. He was one of the few living to befriend the Deku tree. They joked that he must have been there when the goddesses spread their blessings over the land. He laughed with them knowing that they weren't far from the truth.  
  
His people had been created with the land, but he hadn't come until much later. His people where one of the seven tribes protecting the Golden Land, and each tribe had been given blessings by the goddesses, and each had their own gate to the Golden Land, and each tribe was charged to guard that gate. His tribe was known as the Pathfinders, and they were the only tribe to wander all over the Golden Land. The goddesses had foreseen that this would come to pass, and each goddess blessed them well. Din gave them the power to move their gate, Nayru gave them sharp eyes and good memories, and Farore gave them the courage to walk the world. With these powers they thrived and discovered their entire world had to offer. The Pathfinders grew and spread out over all of the Golden Land, and for a long time all was peaceful. But then a call went out amongst all the people of the Golden Land that the other realm was in trouble. The people of Hyrule were forgetting the wisdom the goddesses had given them. Greed and anger was starting to take over the minds and hearts of the people. In order to help correct this, the strongest and wisest left the Golden Land to help their brothers and sisters in Hyrule.  
  
The Pathfinders were left in ruins from this crusade. The only ones left were those too old or too young to make the journey, along with a few adults to watch over those that stayed behind. They left their gate open, hoping that their loved ones would come home soon. Time passed and the children grew up and had children of their own. The population of the Pathfinders started to grow again, and soon there were almost as many people now as there once had been. He, Serio, was born during these years of rebuilding, only a few years before Lord Link the first. There where over a hundred in the tribe by the time he was born. Serio had a long, quiet childhood, and was soon ready to start making a life for himself. On the eve of his twentieth year he was woken from his sleep by screams and the smell of things burning all around him. A band of thieves had broken through their open, and still yet unguarded gate. The thieves had the upper hand and the survivors were scrambling for shelter. Those that were left waited until things had quieted down and then tried to make it out the gate. The thieves were waiting for them and attacked as they ran. It was a massacre, and only four families managed to make it in to Hyrule. They could not find any of there own people, and the people that found them greeted them with suspicion. The evil had come through their gate, and therefore it was their fault the Golden Land was no more. Instead of trying to settle down like their neighbors, they lived like seeds in the wind, doing what they knew best - making maps. As they spread over Hyrule they left their maps where others could find them, and hence benefit from there efforts. Finely, after years of wandering, Lord Link the second defeated Ganon, and the Golden Land was restored. The last of the Pathfinders tried to go back to their one-time home only to find their way barred. They were being punished by the goddesses for their carelessness. The goddesses decreed that, before they would be allowed back, they had to make a complete map of Hyrule. They once again started to travel, hoping to finish the penance quickly, but the task was not as easy as they thought. The Triforce was still actively shaping the land. Paths and people moved around - the very mountains shifted. The Pathfinders kept getting older and soon most of them died or were too weak to continue on their task. But instead of giving up, they trained a new generation, sending them off to win back their place in paradise. Serio was one of the last of them to have seen the golden land. He had trained no apprentice, leaving the others of his tribe do that. It was no secret that he wanted the task to end with him. He enjoyed his solitary life, and he did not wish to have anyone else messing about in it. Serio was set in is ways (and had been called a stubborn old coot more times than he cared to remember).  
  
The moon sped on across the sky as Serio walked faster, trying to get to the Village before sunrise. He had to get some supplies before starting on his next map. There was a rumor that a new passage had been found inside Death Mountain, and it was his duty to map it. As Serio slowly made his way over the river flowing from the Zora's Domain, he thought about what had happened when he answered the Kokiri's request for him to arrive. A child had been brought to the Kokiri, and he thought the child would more than likely become a hero. The child needed one of his special maps. The map Serio had given him was bound with its own wise sprit, which would reveal itself to the boy as the child grew and learned. And before he left the young child, he whispered one thing in to his ear. "Welcome Lord Link. May my gift serve you well." Then he was gone, vanished like mist in the sun. Serio put that thought aside and started up the stairs to the sleeping town. He had to hurry if he wanted to get all the changes onto mapped before the new hero needed them. Serio pushed on, wondering what the tiny child would do with the gift he had been given. Serio hopped it would be the last map like that he would ever have to make. He smiled, stepping into Kakariko village right as dawn was braking. The Shopkeeper smiled and beckoned him inside when he saw him. He made his purchases and headed up towards the mountain. Serio stopped and looked at the parchment in his hand. Perhaps it would become the map that would lead him back to his home. There was only one way to find out, and that was to finish it. He tucked the paper back in his knapsack and climbed up the mountain, hoping that it was the path home. 


End file.
